Bouncing toy rocket

ABSTRACT

A toy in the shape of a space rocket, which is powered by a spring in the tail section which is in contact with a ball which protrudes out of the rear of the tail section. Throwing the rocket, tail-first towards the ground, results in the bouncing of said ball and spring so as to shoot the rocket, nose-first, up into the air. The nose section of the rocket is weighted so as to cause the rocket in flight to level off and then fall nose-first into the ground.

United States Patent [191 Schatz v BOUNCING TOY ROCKET [75] inventor:Martin L. Schatz, Chicago, ill.v

[73] Assignee: The Raymond Lee Organization, New York, NY. a partinterest 858,986 1/1961 Great Britain 46/74 A [4 1 Feb. 26, 1974 PrimaryExaminer-Louis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner-Robert F. Cutting Attorney,Agent, or Firm-Howard l. Podell 5 7 ABSTRACT A toy in the shape of aspace rocket, which is powered by'a spring in the tail section which isin contact with a ball which protrudes out of the rear of the tailsection. Throwing the rocket, tail-first towards the ground, results inthe bouncing of said ball and spring so as to shoot the rocket,nose-first, up into the air. The nose section of the rocket is weightedso as to causethe rocket in flight to level off and then fall nose-firstinto the ground. 7 I

1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is aneducational toy in the shape of a space rocket, and particularly a toyrocket which is energized by bouncing the tail section onto the ground.

The advantage of this toy is that the rocket may be used a countlessnumber of times by young children in a safe and harmless manner, tosimulate the flight of a space rocket. y

The rocket is preferably shaped of a plastic material in the form of aspace rocket, with a coiled spring mounted in the interior of the tailsection and in contact with a-captive ball which partly protrudes pastthe rear of the rocket tail section. Bouncing the rocket, tail first,into the ground results in the ball and spring bouncing the rocketnose-first into the air. The weighted nose section causes the rocket tolevel off in flight and then approach the ground, nose-first.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The objects and features of theinvention may be un-- and.

FIG. 2 is an elevation and partial cross-section view of the toy rocket.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now descriptively tothe'drawings, in which similar reference characters denote similarelements throughout the several views, FIG. 1 illustrates a child 11throwing the toy rocket 10 with his arm 12 against the ground 19 so thatthe tail section 14 of the rocket strikes the ground 19, and the rocket10A bounces off as shown in the dotted line, in the direction of thenose 15 of the rocket.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rocket 10 is' shaped to resemble a space vehicleApollo rocket, with markings 21 on the rocket body similar to these ofthe actual space vehicle. Tail fins 16 are mounted about the externaltail section 14 of the rocket 10, and a weight 20, shown in dottedlines, is mounted in the curved nose section 15 of the rocket.

A coil compression spring 17 is mounted inside the tail 14 of the rocketso as to bear against a curved block 23 which is shaped with a concavesurface to fit against a solid or hollow ball 18, such that the ball 18protrudes past the rear of the tail section 14. The ball 18 which ljectory with the rocket curving over into a horizontal may be of elasticor riged construction be bonded to the curved block 23, with the block23 permanently fastened to the rear end of the coiled spring 17.

In operation, the rocket is thrown, as shown in FIG. 1, so that the ball18 strikes the ground 19, tail-first, with the combined reaction bounceof the ball 18 and the coiled spring 17 acting to bounce the rocketnose-first up into the air. The effect of the nose weight in such flightcauses the rocket 10 to assume a traposition initially in flight, andthen heading nose-first into the ground in a realistic simulation ofspace rocket travel.

The rocket may be fabricated of an impact-resistant plastic or of othersuch light weight material, or may be formed of a thin shell of metal.

Since obvious changes may be made in the specific embodiment of theinvention described herein, such modifications being within the spiritand scope of the invention claimed, it is indicated that all mattercontained herein is intended as illustrative and not as limiting inscope.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A toy in the shape of a rocket, which may be powered in a directedflight pattern simulating that of a rocket by being initially throwntailend against the ground, said rocket formed with a cylindrical body whichis shaped at the nose end in a rounded fashion, with a compressionspring mounted in the interior of the tail section of the body, and aspherical-shaped ball member which is fastened in the body so as to bearagainst the rear end of the compression spring, with part of thespherical-shaped ball member protruding past the tail end of thecylindrical body such that the toy will bounce upwards when thrown downagainst a horizontal surface so that the tail end of the ball memberstrikes the horizontal surface and temporarily compresses the spring,with a weight located in the interior of the nose section of the body soas to cause the axis of the body of the toy to change from an initialvertical orientation in flight, after the tail of the toy has bouncedoff a horizontal surface, to a horizontal orientation, with thelongitudinal axis continuing to revolve in flight so that the toy headsback to the ground level in a nose-first orientation, with the tailsection of the body fitted with protruding fins so as to stabilize themotion of the toy in flight.

1. A toy in the shape of a rocket, which may be powered in a directedflight pattern simulating that of a rocket by being initially throwntail end against the ground, said rocket formed with a cylindrical bodywhich is shaped at the nose end in a rounded fashion, with a compressionspring mounted in the interior of the tail section of the body, and aspherical-shaped ball member which is fastened in the body so as to bearagainst the rear end of the compression spring, with part of thesphericalshaped ball member protruding past the tail end of thecylindrical body such that the toy will bounce upwards when thrown downagainst a horizontal surface so that the tail end of the ball memberstrikes the horizontal surface and temporarily compresses the spring,with a weight located in the interior of the nose section of the body soas to cause the axis of the body of the toy to change from an initialvertical orientation in flight, after the tail of the toy has bouncedoff a horizontal surface, to a horizontal orientation, with thelongitudinal axis continuing to revolve in flight so that the toy headsback to the ground level in a nose-first orientation, with the tailsection of the body fitted with protruding fins so as to stabilize themotion of the toy in flight.